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By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain historically low.

U.S. jobless claims filings rose by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ending March 15, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just less than the 224,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

The four-week average, which evens out some of the week-to-week swings, inched up by 750 to 227,000.

It’s not clear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though the Labor Department’s February jobs report showed that the federal government shed 10,000 jobs. That’s the most since June of 2022.

Economists don’t expect the federal workforce layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report.

Those layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk. read more

Q: My boyfriend and I want to move in together but cannot find an affordable rental that allows pets. With interest rates and prices inching down, we are thinking about buying a starter home. We both have good jobs and strong credit. My mom reads your column and suggested I ask if this is a good idea. Thanks! — Rita

A: I cannot say if it is a good idea because I have not met your significant other, but with proper planning, buying property together can work out well.

Whenever people who are not married to each other buy property together, I recommend drafting a written agreement that outlines what each of you will be responsible for and discussing what happens if you break up.

This is especially important if one of you is providing more down payment than the other. Should your relationship sour, having an agreement in place will make dealing with the property easier and less costly.

The process of preparing a co-ownership agreement can also help set you up for success. Among other details, you will need to discuss who is responsible for the costs and maintenance and what happens if one of you has a career setback or falls ill and cannot pay their share. read more

After the safe return Tuesday of two astronauts left behind for months on the International Space Station, the White House characterized the pair as “stranded” and trumpeted their return as a “rescue.” Those are words that NASA has been resisting for months.

It made for an awkward situation in a post-splashdown press conference, when NASA administrators insisted they could have brought Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home at any time, while also seeking not to contradict the president.

The two returned as part of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, having been on board the station since June after flying up on Boeing’s Starliner.

“PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months,” was the message posted to the White House X account after the landing.

But NASA officials, though parsing their words carefully, stuck to a different narrative.

“We always had a lifeboat, a way for them to come home,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said. read more

By Rosie Cima, Nerdwallet

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

Thinking about changing jobs? You’re in good company. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans are staying in the same job for shorter periods of time than in the past.

The length of time you’ve worked for your current employer is called your job tenure. In 2014, the median job tenure – across all age groups, occupations and industries – was 4.6 years. In 2024, it dropped to 3.9 years. In fact, job tenure is now the shortest it has been in over 20 years.

Economists care about tenure as a measure of employment security and health of the labor market. And personal job tenure is important to workers because job changes often raise questions about personal finances and planning for the future. read more